


a world no one else has ever seen

by bobtheacorn



Category: One Piece
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Gen, May 5th u know what that means, Platonic Cuddling, Post-Skip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-05
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2018-10-28 09:26:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 7,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10828434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bobtheacorn/pseuds/bobtheacorn
Summary: "We are the sole survivors of a world no one else has ever seen." - John le Carre//Luffy sleeps; sometimes it's fine and sometimes it's not.  But at least his friends are here.





	1. unhurried footfalls

Robin hears him coming.  Heavy, unhurried footfalls on the deck outside; the door creaking inward, clicking shut; the shuffle of bare feet across the carpet, before a weight eases onto the edge of the mattress behind her, first hands, then knees, each more tentative than the last.  Robin smiles without uttering a word, without even opening her eyes.  She lifts the blanket with an extra hand so he can slide underneath, and he dives in at once, curls up with his back firmly pressed against hers.  Nami has been listening for him, too.

Her voice is soft and edged with worry as she lifts her head, "Luffy?"

Robin feels the captain's shoulders - she finds herself forgetting, they're very broad now - shift as he crosses his arms over his chest, his hair tickling the back of her neck as he turns his face into the mattress and answers, "Yeah."

"You okay?"

"'M fine."

"...Alright."

Nami's voice is reluctant, but full of warmth and understanding.  She settles slowly into her pillow again, arms crossed underneath it and chin propped up, watching the captain in the half-dark.  Luffy, for his part, lets out a deep breath - and Robin is the only one near enough to catch the way it almost trembles out of the young man's lungs.  He is incredibly tense for someone who has come in here to rest, and Robin's only way of soothing him is to sprout an arm out of the mattress.  She fusses with the blanket, makes a show of tucking it around him properly with a few gentle tugs, and then she firmly pats Luffy's cheek, affectionate and playful.

She feels the muscles in his face jump at once when he grins.  He uncrosses his arms and lifts his hand, but her extra arm vanishes the moment he moves and Luffy's hand falls across the cool mattress, fingers curling into the sheets.  A new hand pats the back of his, more insistent than before, and Luffy's hand darts up, clapping against the back of Robin's extra and pinning it down against the mattress.  She sprouts another to clap the back of his.

Nami's giggling bubbles up out of the quiet at the same moment that Robin's does, and Robin knows that Luffy is grinning, even though she doesn't see it.

"What are you two _doing_ over there?" Nami inquires, the mattress creaking as she pushes up on her elbows.

There is that energetic chuckling Robin has been waiting for - a bit deeper than she remembers it, more from the chest than the throat, and she is reminded again of how much he has grown in the time they've been apart.

"Nothin'.  Sorry."

"You're stupid," Nami says, soft and smiling, nestling back into her pillow.  Her exasperation is comfortable, as endearing as it always is.  "Honestly."

Robin keeps a similar tone when she finally speaks, though she pretends to chastise him, "Please settle down and go to sleep, Luffy.  You're being quite troublesome."  The fingers of her extra hand wiggle a bit underneath his, drumming the mattress as if to say _shame on you_.

Luffy's fingers squeeze her hand.

"Sorry," he mutters again.  And Robin can hear how he struggles to keep some of that smile, the way he clings to it when before it came so easily.  She makes sure to laugh sweetly, shifting and leaning back against his broader shoulders, turning just enough so that she can see him peeking at her over his own shoulder.

"It's alright, Luffy."

And if his hand trembles a little as he buries his face into the mattress, knees and elbows digging in a he curls, if his fingers squeeze a bit too tight -

Well.

It's alright.

 


	2. a warmth slowly building

Luffy rolls over on top of Usopp sometime in the night, dragging Chopper with him as he skillfully bridges the space between the bunks.  There's a lot of disgruntled shoving from both of them (bewildered on Usopp's part, and determined on Luffy's) before the captain finally settles at the foot of the bed, on his back between Usopp's knees.  He practically wraps one of his legs around Usopp's, burying his cold toes wherever he pleases, his other leg outstretched over Usopp's stomach and chest with the heel of his foot resting against Usopp's shoulder.  Chopper is cradled in his arms, still fast asleep with his nose pressed against Luffy's collar bone.

There is the biggest, dumbest smile on Luffy's face.

Usopp knows this without even looking.  He can hear it in the happy exhale as Luffy moves his shoulders, throwing an arm over Usopp's free leg.  Usopp doesn't mind the intrusion - how could he, when it's been so long? - but he pretends to.  Clearing his throat, he kicks his foot a little, bouncing Luffy's arm.  He gets an inquisitive hum from the captain and asks, "Who said you could come over here, huh?"

"I did," Luffy says, smug and grinning.

Luffy moves his heel, digging it playfully into the slope of Usopp's shoulder, touching Usopp's face with the ball of his foot.  His big toe pokes the corner of Usopp's eye, and Usopp lifts his arm to grab Luffy's ankle, turning his face away.

"Come on, Luffy," he says, pushing Luffy's leg up and off of him, "There isn't enough room is this bunk for all of us."

He says it jokingly, but is surprised to realize he's made a valid point - he and Luffy fit comfortably in this same bunk two years ago, but now there's a little less space than there was before.  Usopp knows his feet weren't always so close to the end of the bed, knows his elbows weren't so close to the sides.

The bunk obviously hasn't shrunk.

Usopp doesn't know what the feeling that comes over him is - a warmth slowly building in his chest like a storm.  Whatever it is, Luffy dispels it with a swift, laughing kick to Usopp's jaw.  The blow doesn't hurt.  It's glancing, persistent and strong.  Usopp yelps in surprise, anyway, hamming it up, _"OW!_ Luffy, you got a lotta nerve!"

He grabs the flat of Luffy's foot in his hand, pushes him off.  He feels the muscles in Luffy's leg tighten as he pushes his foot back into Usopp's palm.  The playful gesture quickly becomes a subtle test of strength - both of them struggling against each other and neither giving an inch, muscles burning, the bunk wobbling.

Obviously, Luffy is going to win unless Usopp does something drastic.  Holding on tight so he doesn't get kicked in the face for real, Usopp lifts his free hand and pokes Luffy behind the knee.  Luffy yelps out a laugh, his whole body jerking to retreat.  He tries to yank his leg free, but Usopp pins his ankle down under his arm and grabs his leg so he can't escape, still tickling furiously behind his knee, the back of his thigh.

_"Nonononono - No fuh-fair!! Quit it!!  Usopp!!!"_

Luffy wheezes and laughs and writhes around, dislodging Chopper as he fights to untangle himself from Usopp - and Chopper rolls right out of the bunk as it sways sideways, falling on top of Sanji.  The noise has woken the whole cabin, now (except for Zoro, who could sleep through a hurricane), so Usopp goes ahead and bellows, "Do you give!!"

_"I give, I give!!"_

"Come on, guys, it's a little late for wrestlin', ain't it?"

"What's going on…?"

"Usopp started it!!"

" _You_ started it, you big liar, you came over here! Uninvited!! Kicking me!!"

"I don't care who the hell started it, I'll finish it if you don't go the hell back to sleep!"

Sanji kicks the bottom of the bunk, throwing it so sharply upward that for one stomach-lurching second Usopp and Luffy both leave the mattress and hang in the air, suspended.  It drops back down hard, the chains jerking, swinging.  There's a hiss from below as Sanji maybe realizes that could have ended really badly for him and Chopper - his own damn fault, too - but Franky's craftsmanship holds without a fault.

The unexpected ride calms them down a little and dislodges Luffy from Usopp's relentless tickling.  Luffy is breathless from laughing so hard, gripping the sides of the bunk with both his hands, his legs curled in the air and knees close to his chest.  He exhales loudly as he relaxes, kicking his legs out again, and closes his eyes.

In the quiet that comes next, they're both tangled up again, legs and arms wrapped around each other from opposite ends of the bed.  Luffy's leg is a warm weight across Usopp's chest, his calloused hands and fingertips brushing against Usopp's bare leg.  Usopp jerks it once in warning, though not enough to actually get away.

"If you tickle me, Luffy, you'll regret it!"

Luffy giggles softly, "Would not."

His grip tightens, just a little, and Usopp holds his breath for a second, and then he puffs like he's still annoyed, because that's normal.  And he knows.  There are a lot of things Luffy doesn't regret - and a lot of things he probably does.

 


	3. small movements

Zoro feels a knee in his lower back and grunts in annoyance at the intrusion, but doesn't move except to turn his face further into the pillow.  Another knee skims against his hip, an elbow past his shoulder, before Luffy collapses across his back with enough unchecked force to rock the bunk.  He expels a heavy sigh against the back of Zoro's neck, wiggles like an eel in the mud before he finally relaxes, and Zoro drags his arm out from under the pillow, reaching back over his shoulder to shove Luffy's face away.

"Get off," he huffs.

"Nope," is the muffled response against his other shoulder after Luffy squirms out of his reach, "Comfortable."

Zoro lets out a sigh of his own, resigned - it figures, the one time he decides to nap indoors - but to his immense surprise, Luffy is quiet.  Zoro drops his hand back onto the pillow, thick and cool under his hand.  For the first five minutes or so, he dozes, falling into that still warmth that comes with sleep, sandwiched between his captain's steady breathing and the soft mattress, rain drumming against the deck outside the door.

Then, of course, Luffy ruins it when he gets himself tickled for no good reason.

It's the silent kind of mirth that shakes Luffy's diaphragm without making any noise.  Zoro feels the steady vibration through his back, deep in his own chest, and he can't help cracking a smile, too, even if it is smothered by the pillow.  It goes on for a while, until Luffy is nearly gasping in between heaves of laughter; that big grin digging into Zoro's back; his arms tucked between them, wrapped around his middle.  His knees curl, pressing into Zoro's.

That's when the swordsman finally grinds out,  _ "What,  _ Luffy?" and he lets some of his irritation slip in, because he  _ is _ trying to sleep here.  The laughter subsides with one deep breath, though the grin remains.

Luffy shakes his head, rubs his forehead against the broad curve of Zoro's shoulder.

"Nothin'."

He flops around again, legs kicking the air.  The chuckles bubble up again, just a half-second later - Luffy shifts, his elbows digging into Zoro's back, cold toes pawing at Zoro's legs - but Zoro doesn't make him leave.  Luffy finds a place to put his arms, then, sliding them up underneath the pillow, under Zoro's thicker arms; he settles with his face resting between Zoro's shoulders.  Another puff of laughter warms the back of Zoro's shirt, but after that Luffy doesn't move around anymore except his feet, brushing across the mattress and Zoro's legs.

The small movement and soft noise eventually lulls them both to sleep.

 

 


	4. someone around who will

Sanji steps up onto the gunwale as he takes one final drag off his cigarette, holds the smoke in his lungs and slowly exhales before flicking it overboard into the reaching waves. The ember and smoke blaze a trail through the darkness and disappear from sight.  It's kind of stormy-looking tonight, heavy clouds blocking out the moonlight, the wind pushing hard, the ship rocking even though she's anchored down.

It would feel precarious standing here like this - one sudden tilt away from slipping overboard - if Sanji hadn't been on a ship basically his entire life. The only part of his life that's ever mattered, anyway.  Adjusting the grip he has on the bento box wrapped in a cloth, Sanji starts climbing toward the crow's nest.  His face and hands are cold from the wind by the time he's pushing open the hatch - and he barely manages this before a long, familiar growl reaches his ears.  Sanji sticks his head up into the warm room, grinning.

"Listen to that," he says, "I got perfect timing, don't I?"

Across the room, Luffy shoots up from where he's laying half in the window, his head resting on his folded arms.  Even in the dark, his eyes probably land on the bento box first, because he leaps up and comes sprinting over, an eager whine of,  _ "Sanji!  Food!" _ tipping out of him as he reaches over, grabs Sanji by the forearms, and hoists him out of the opening.  Sanji at least has the presence of mind to lock his elbows against his sides so Luffy doesn't yank his damn arms off.

His feet don't land on the floor right away, and Luffy's shorter, so Sanji stumbles, swearing.  In the same movement that he sets Sanji down, and Sanji is trying to steady himself, Luffy is prying the bento out of his hands.

"Would you be this excited to see me if I hadn't brought a snack?" Sanji asks, only half annoyed.

Luffy laughs through that cheeky grin of his, "Yeah."

It's disarming, that sudden honest affection, so Sanji lights a cigarette to have something to do with his hands and looks away.  He cracks open a window as Luffy throws himself back down on the bench circling the room and digs into his bento.  By then the moment's passed, so Sanji sits beside him, kicks one leg up to rest on the nearest barbell.  He switches the hand his cigarette is in when Luffy slides down the bench to sit right against his hip.

He's not a fan of the smoke, so Sanji turns his face away and exhales in a rush, lifting his foot off the barbell to plant it in Luffy's side and shove him back.

"Don't crowd me, dumbass, you see me smoking.  I don't wanna hear any complaints if it gets in your face."

There's already hotdogs and rice crammed into Luffy's mouth, so Sanji doesn't catch whatever he tries to say.  It's laughing and dismissive.  Sanji takes another long pull off his cigarette, his hand covering his face.  _ Dumbass…. _

"You can go on back to bed when you're done, if you want," he says, kicking his foot up again, sinking back into the bench, "I'll finish the watch."

He knows damn well Luffy's only been up here about an hour or two - it's nowhere near time to change shifts - but Luffy's never liked staying up alone at night, and Sanji can't imagine he likes it any better now.  Luffy actually pauses with the fork halfway to his mouth, wide open, looking at him, and Sanji makes a point of staring away from him at the drifting smoke.

Luffy lowers the fork slightly.

"Could ya not sleep?"

"Nah.  Got too much on my mind, I guess."

Luffy hums and stuffs his face again.  Sanji relaxes slightly, without even realizing that he'd tensed up in the first place.

He's feeling off tonight, restless, irritated, so he'd gotten up to cook because that always eases his mind - the chore itself, the smell of food, the knowledge that he doesn't have to make himself eat it even if he isn't hungry because he knows there's someone around who will.  He doesn't feel like he's wasting the food and the effort, and that really does lift a weight off his chest.  Just sitting beside him, Luffy does that, too, without even trying.  He hums appreciatively with every bite, rooting around in the rice for the hotdogs and laughing when he finally notices that they're cut up into little octopus shapes.

He lifts one out between his fingers and says, "I like these guys.  You want some?"

Sanji's just as unlikely to say  _ no _ to food as Luffy is.  He holds out his hand and Luffy drops a couple of them, dotted with rice, into his palm.

When Luffy turns the box up over his open mouth and smacks the bottom of it to get the last of the sauce and rice out of it, Sanji takes it out of his hands.  He appreciates the sentiment - not a single grain of rice is left behind - but he doesn't want the idiot licking it clean.  Luffy covers his face with his hands and yawns, instead.  He flops over sideways into Sanji's side and wiggles down to get comfortable, head tucked into the space where Sanji's shoulder meets the bench, lifting his feet out to put them up on the barbell.

His legs are too short.  Luffy kicks impatiently at the air until Sanji hooks his foot underneath the barbell and drags it closer.  He props one heel across the bar and folds his other leg, ankle resting on his own leg with his knee bent across Sanji's thighs.

Up til now, Sanji has been ashing his cigarettes out the open window. With Luffy pressed up against him, he can't reach it.

Sanji elbows him.

"Get the hell off me, Luffy," he says, "go to bed."

Luffy tips his head back, closing his eyes.

"Don't wanna."

And really, that's that.  He's asleep within just a few minutes, arms crossed loosely over his stomach, hat resting more on Sanji's shoulder than his own head, snoring softly.  Sanji mutters, "Whatever," and breathes out the rest of his smoke away from Luffy's face, crushing the ember out between his fingers.

 


	5. this song

It is a difficult thing to be fearful of the night and the darkness it brings when the moon has set and the stars are out.  Dots of light spread across the inky blue sky, a medley of patterns reflected and shifting in the waves of a black ocean.  It's so fresh and freeing, so clear, that it puts Brook in the mood to play a song - so of course, he plays Bink's Brew.

The first chord of the violin wavers in the air unaccompanied.  A gentle wind hushes over the grass, teases the greenery of the trees, but these sounds are soft and muted.  He does not quite feel the tugging at his clothes, but he sees the mast swaying, the waves churning beyond the deck, and it is more than enough to keep his memory alive.  He's only partway through the second verse, humming in tandem with the slow melody, when he realizes that he's drawn an audience.

Luffy is padding up the steps of the forecastle deck toward him, beaming as if he means to light the world himself.  Brook pauses to greet him - and in the brief lull of notes, Luffy goes,  _ "Aw" _ and his face falls in disappointment, and Brook begins to play again without having to be asked.

Luffy takes a seat at the helm and folds his arms over the backrest, head tipped so that one ear is open and he can hear the music better, eyes closed as he pulls in a deep breath and sighs.  The instrumental parts stretch a bit, soothingly.  Brook sings, now, because Luffy is the one humming along, and lets his low voice carry over the deck until the other wavers off.

Brook finishes the song alone, and there is nothing sad about that.

"I like this song."

Brook trails off in surprise, the music waning into one long final note.  He had been certain Luffy had fallen asleep again, but as he turns to look he sees his captain beaming, too broad to have been coaxed from sleep, though his eyes are closed.  Luffy continues unprompted, perhaps only because he is comfortably tired and safe - because his friends are safe, and close to him, and he is allowed this one moment of admittance, "It made me feel better, thinkin' about all of us singing it together."

It is quite a powerful song in that way.  It helped Brook remember who he was and what was important for all those years, has always been a great source of comfort to him when the days were dark and without hope.

That Luffy felt, even for a moment, a fraction of that loneliness…

Brook lifts his violin into position again, hovering over the strings.  His voice is unwavering, soft and resolute when he asks,

"Would you like to hear it again, Captain?"

"Sure."

Luffy's tone is always so curious.  To sound so eager and so indifferent all at once, as if he doesn't care to hear it again only if Brook doesn't care to play it again.  And who is he to deny the call of his captain, whether it be for glorious battle or only for a glass of milk, or even for a song that he has played far too many times to count.


	6. kinda wistful-like

It's not very often that anyone really wanders down to Franky's workroom - not unless they're playing hide and seek or something, because most of the choice spaces to hide are obviously gonna be below deck.  So when Franky sees the door pushing open in the side of his vision, he just assumes it's Usopp wanting to lend him a hand, or Sanji bringing a snack, or Robin looking for someone to hang with while she reads.  Instead, it's Luffy who sticks his head in, swinging to scan the room and lighting up when he catches sight of Franky kneeling over the open engine of the Shark Submerge.

Surprised, Franky cuts the soldering iron off and lifts his goggles with a thumb.

"What's up, boss?"

"Nothin'," Luffy says, "Just me."

He emphasizes how lame this is with a mawing yawn behind his hand, that stretches his jaw way wider than normal and lasts long enough to infect Franky as well.  It leaves a totally dazed expression in it's wake, Luffy blinking blearily as he plods across the room.  Franky shakes off his own unwelcome yawn and watches as Luffy climbs up onto the only empty space on his workbench and sits his scrawny ass down in the middle of it, feet kicking loosely at the air.

"What'cha doin'?" he asks, hands squeezed between his knees, shoulders forward.

"Just a tune-up," Franky says.  He knows better than to explain what he's doing in detail, "What's got you up so late?"

It's not really all that late, exactly.  But it's late enough to be weird that the captain is still up and wandering around when there's nothing exciting to keep him occupied.  Luffy starts poking things that are near him on the bench, nudging parts and pressing gauge buttons just to hear the empty  _ ca-click, ca-click, ca-click. _  It's all tools and junk that aren't wired into anything.  Franky doesn't tell him not to bother it - not like a shock would hurt him, anyway.

"I wanted somethin' to eat," Luffy says, a pout in his voice because he isn't being accommodated when he thinks he ought to be, "but Sanji's in the shower."

"Well, I'm not opening the fridge for ya," Franky says without missing a beat, "Sanji'll have my hide.  You can wait a few minutes." Luffy groans.  This isn't the answer he wanted to hear, but probably the one he expected, because he doesn't whine about it.  He flops sideways onto the bench, knocking a few things off.  Franky points over his shoulder, "There's some cola in that cooler there."

Something else clatters to the floor as Luffy rolls off the bench to go rummage.  He retakes his seat with a cold bottle between his hands, wrestling the cap off and throwing it at Franky's head.  The cap goes wide (his fighting aim may have gotten better, but his throwing aim sure hasn't).  The bottle cap hits the sub instead, with a light  _ plink _ that makes Franky look up dramatically from what he's doing, just to get a laugh out of his idiot captain. Luffy almost chokes on his soda chuckling into it.

After that he watches in relative silence as Franky pulls his goggles back down and sets to work, heedless of his audience.  It takes him a while to finish up. And (partly because Luffy is still hanging around, and partly because it's just great being excited about the stuff that you love) Franky strikes a ludicrous pose, gestures to his pride and joy.

"OW! One and done, boss! How's she look?"

"Just as cool as always," Luffy says, honest and grinning, because he can't see the difference. It's still a compliment, and Franky will take it.  He slams the hood down, picks up an oil rag to wipe everything down, but turns when he hears Luffy make a tiny noise.

"Man," Luffy sighs kinda wistful-like, feet swinging, "Wish I could do that."

Franky arches an eyebrow at him, asks, "Yeah? What's that?"

Luffy looks down at his open hands, flexes his fingers.

"Fix things…"

Franky doesn't like the way he says that.  And it's not like Luffy to be so reflective - self-awareness isn't what he does, not by a longshot. He's a live-in-the-moment kinda guy, and Franky respects the hell outta that.  He's seen this kid wrecked a time or two too many, seen him give every single thing he's got and then some in order to fix things that are broken and messed, that have nothing to do with him.

"What're ya talking about, Luffy?" Franky asks, laughing.  He wipes his sturdy hands clean of grease, holds them up for Luffy to see, clenched into fists. "You fix things with these."  He strides across the room, and pokes Luffy square in the chest. "And you fix 'em in here. That's where it matters most. Y'got me?"

Luffy's response is to break into a wide grin.  He reaches out and thumps Franky hard on the arm, the flat of his strong hand beating against metal.

"I get it. Thanks."

"No problem, boss. Now then!" Luffy is already launching up from the bench before Franky even asks, thrusting a thumb over his shoulder at the Shark Submerge, "You wanna ride alone while I take 'er for a quick spin?"

"Yeah!!"

Franky goes a little wild with the thrusters right out of the gate, to hear the engine humming, perfectly in tune, and Luffy's whoops of excited laughter as he clutches at the seat.  Luffy sticks his face against the windows, staring out into the lights cutting through the undersea gloom, the startled fish, the foam of air bubbles rushing past.  He falls asleep on the way back to the ship with his legs thrown over the arm of the seat and his hat pulled over his face.

A devil fruit user, feeling that at ease under water.

Hell yeah, Franky takes a lot of pride in that.


	7. chased by rocky laughter

Nami spends the bright afternoon picking tangerines.  Usually, she does this in the morning, but there had been a spat with the Marine's at the break of dawn (thinking they'd get the jump on the pirates, as if they didn't have sense enough to keep a look-out or two) and then there had been a cyclone, and for an hour afterward it had rained dewdrop-shaped rainbow-colored fish.  The soaked deck is alive with the frantic flopping things, the crew chasing them down with buckets and nets and bare hands.

Sanji is euphoric.  Apparently the fish is rare - some delicacy swept in from the South Blue - and he wants as many as they can put in the tank.

Nami even catches a few fish glinting iridescently in the foliage as she plucks her tangerines free, and she tosses the frightened fish back to safety over the starboard rail. There are more than enough of them already, and she doesn't want to be eating these fish exclusively for the next several weeks.

It's an easy rhythm to fall into, something so familiar it's second nature. 

The ripe tangerines are easy to identify; the contrast of color against bright green leaves, the firmness under her glove when she grips and twists them from the stem, the solid  _ bump _ against one another as they're dropped into the basket waiting at her feet.

Of course, she's interrupted.

There's a rustling on the other side of the tree, a few deep chuckles that give her captain away.

"Why are you being such a nuisance?" Nami asks, curious instead of annoyed.

He won't hurt her trees.

He's just being silly, or up to something.

"I'm not doing anything," Luffy says, in That tone of voice.

"What do you want then?" Nami cautiously.

She starts ducking to peek through the bushes, then, trying to get a glimpse of him.  The last time he was feeling mischievous she left her stomach on the lawn when he jumped overboard with her in tow for a cannonball contest, and she lost her bathing suit. Nami thumps a tangerine between her hands, scanning the greenery for a spot of red that doesn't belong. She hears him rustling again.

"Luffy, you had better not be climbing this tree!"

"I wasn't!"

More rustling, frantic, as he withdraws. A thin branch snaps, and Luffy makes a distressed sound. Well. He wouldn't hurt her trees  _ on purpose _ .

"Come around here," Nami demands, bent over her basket with her hand braced against the lip, glaring through a thin space between the leaves, "What are you doing!"

"Sorry…"

His sandals scuff in the soft, damp dirt, retreating, and Nami turns toward the end of the row where Luffy appears a moment later. He's got a leafy stick in one fist, looking like a kicked dog but returning with it anyway, and a tangerine in the other.

Nami takes the stick with a sigh and drops it on top of the tangerines in the basket.

"Would you behave yourself please?"

Luffy grins.  "I'll try~"

Nami doesn't take the tangerine away from him, so Luffy digs his teeth into the peel like it's an apple, pulls a strip free. It's better than him putting four in his mouth all at once, so Nami lets him eat it however he wants and doesn't point out that even monkeys are smart enough to peel the whole thing with their fingers first. She gestures to the basket.

"Move this down for me."

And Luffy picks it up by the handles, walking it down the row a few paces.

As long as he's being helpful and quiet and not destructive, Nami doesn't mind if he stays. He'll get bored and wander off after he eats a dozen or more tangerines. He probably just wanted a snack; she can still hear the others yelling as they chase down any straggling rainbow fish, Sanji leading the charge with a passion he usually reserves for flirting.

Luffy plops down beside the basket and sticks his whole arm in it, rolling the tangerines around to pick out another one to eat.  Nami doesn't tell him not to; eating out of the basket is fine, and he knows to leave enough for storing, for juice and desserts and whatever else they need. Nami combs carefully through the trees in search of any fruit that might be trying to hide and grow too ripe.

She plucks a few more and tosses them into the basket over the brim of Luffy's straw-hat. She works her way around him, then further down the row, getting swept up in her task. When the basket is too far away for her to reach, Nami glances up, wiping her forehead with the back of her glove.

"Luffy - " she stops, closing her mouth.

Luffy has his arms draped over and into the basket, his head tipped sideways and resting on his arm. He's sleeping, holding a tangerine in his limp hand. And his cheeks are bulging just a little.

He has literally fallen asleep eating.

Nami is staggered.

Her face softens, though. She can't even remember how many times she crawled into the grove back home and napped under Belle-mere's tangerine trees; the warm sun across her legs, the cool and soothing shade, lulled to sleep by the sweet smell of fruit and the wind brushing through the trees - a young and chipper voice nearby, chased by rocky laughter. 

Nami picks a few more tangerines, holding them in the bend of her arm, and walks them to the basket. She takes the tangerine out of Luffy's open hand, surprised when it doesn't wake him up, and sets it and the others in around his arms. Her knee bumps the basket as she stands, and Luffy stirs - and automatically starts chewing in his sleep, juice gushing out the corner of his mouth.

Nami is tempted to pull the basket out from under him, but she leaves him where he is.

 


	8. their working hands

Luffy has nightmares sometimes.

He doesn't sleep as much, catching naps here and there when the others are busy with their own things and he has nothing else to keep him going; when he can fall asleep listening to their voices or their working hands, their bickering or singing. He's as full of energy as ever. Sometimes he gets quiet, though. He gets still in a way that is different than he was before.

So Chopper notices.

Everyone notices.

Luffy wakes them all up falling out of the bed, the frantic thumping of his feet as he scrambles out of the room to pace around the lawn and burn off that nervous energy lighting up his body. He can make his heart speed up, his blood pump faster, but he can't slow it down. Sometimes he falls asleep in the cool grass, and Zoro or Usopp or Nami goes out to lay beside him to talk or to just keep him company; sometimes Brook plays a song, or Franky distracts him with a game, or Robin reads to him, or Sanji makes him something to eat and doesn't complain about being woken up for once.

Chopper isn't sure what he can do. He feels a little lost when faced with this.  This isn't an illness or a physical ache that he can treat with medicine - this is Luffy's brain betraying him and his heart hurting. This is Luffy missing Ace and being scared that he can't protect them.

He thinks Zoro said it best, cutting straight to the heart of it like he usually does, in one of his rare moments of firm, quiet wisdom:

The only thing they can do is just be there, and be stronger.

Chopper understands that. And he understands the nightmares. He's had plenty of his own, after all. Humans chasing him through the snow, the thunder gunshots in the still night; the crash of antlers or hoofs, and warm blood seeping into his fur.  Remembering those things still hurts (it will probably hurt forever), but they were also so long ago...

So many good things have happened in his life since then that remembering them doesn't bring him down the way it used to. He doesn't feel small and helpless and alone anymore. He doesn't feel guilty and sad and frightened.  He has good friends. He has a family. And those other things may be a part of who is is, but they're a very small part now.

He has Luffy to thank for that.

Luffy, who has filled all their lives with light and love and so much happiness Chopper could burst.

Luffy, who was sad and hurting and alone when he needed them the most.

Chopper wants more than anything to be able to fix this, to make this easier, and it's frustrating that what he can do is limited.  He doesn't want to just have Sanji toss something for sleep into Luffy's food every evening just be make sure he gets a good night's sleep. That's a temporary fix at best and a whole lot of other things at worst.  So he stays up at night, combing through his books on insomnia and night terrors, trying to find something he can work with.

But Luffy doesn't talk about the war - he doesn't talk about Ace - and Chopper isn't going to upset him by bringing it up, hoping that if he talks about it maybe it will hurt less.

The sound of footsteps outside his office door diverts his attention.  Chopper's ear flicker toward the shuffle and slap of tired flip-flops, and he turns his head as Luffy pushes open the door, sagging with fatigue and rubbing his face with his hand. He grins when he spots Chopper sitting at his desk with a dozen or more books open, and stumbles inside, "There you are!"

He plucks Chopper up out of his chair with no warning at all. Chopper doesn't protest, only kicks his feet in surprise, clinging to Luffy's hands.

"Luffy, what's the matter?"

"Nothin'. Just lookin' for ya."

Luffy takes Chopper's place in the chair, folding his legs up in the seat and curling around Chopper one he's nestled comfortably in his lap.  He rests his head on top of Chopper's hat, relaxing most of his weight on his considerably smaller friend and palming at Chopper's warm fur.  It's kind of chilly tonight. Chopper glances upward, not wanting to disturb Luffy by turning his head.

"Are you going back to sleep?" he asks quietly, "And is it alright if I keep reading?"

"Yeah. Aaand yeah."

"Are you okay?"

"M fine."

"Do you promise?"

Luffy chuckles sleepily, "I promise," and that's really all the affirmation Chopper needs. Luffy never lies, and he doesn't break promises. Chopper settles his hooves carefully over the back of Luffy's hands, moves them to his wrists and focuses his attention on Luffy's breathing and his heartbeat, counting to himself. The first one is measured, deliberate; the second one a little fast.

As Chopper listens, though, keeping his own breathing slow and even for Luffy to follow, Luffy's energetic pulse evens out and he breathes more naturally, falling asleep.

 _I'm here_ , Chopper thinks, _And I'm strong._

He lets that feeling sink in and knows that it's enough.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!!! I'm gonna throw one more chapter on, bc I wanted to add one from Luffy's perspective (how could I not? He's the light of my life!!! He's the light of everyone's life!!!!!)
> 
> [my tumblr](http://bobtheacorn.tumblr.com) (hmu!!) [my ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/A8342UPQ) (♡)


	9. easier

Luffy wakes up in the dark and rolls over restlessly, hungry and tired, and feeling like his head is sinking deep into churning water. He makes a face at the painful tug at his insides, pushes a hand between his body and the mattress to grope along his stomach where the tugging hurts the worst and finds that there are bandages in the way.

He can't really help the whine that escapes when he exhales, trying to remember what happened. A fight with some marines, and then he fell overboard. It hurts a lot. But mostly he's starving and feels wobbly on the inside like he had a funny dream. Maybe he did. His hands are shaking. Luffy blinks open his eyes, adjusting, and spots a round fuzzy outline that must be Chopper, snoozing in the rolly chair beside his bed. He's in the infirmary, then, and not their cabin.

He wondered why the bed wasn't swinging.

A noise in the doorway makes Luffy lift his head and prop up on his elbows. Nami's orange hair stands out sharply in the darkness as she tiptoes over to him, combing it back from her face.

"What are you in here moaning for?" she huffs quietly, "You're going to wake everyone up!"

"My bad," Luffy mumbles.

Chopper must have given him something that makes him sleepy and it hasn't totally worn off yet, because it's hard to focus on Nami's face, even when she leans down close to him and pulls the blanket up to look at his bandages.  She flicks on the little light beside the bed and Luffy blinks into it, dazed, before he covers his eyes with both hands and drops his face back into the pillow.

Okay, fine.  He whines.

"Hungry…."

"Of course you are," Nami says dismissively, glancing at Chopper, who shifts his face out the light and murmurs in his sleep, "Sanji made stew for you."

Luffy hums at that, and his stomach rumbles. He wants stew.

Sanji's stew is the best.

Awareness expanding at the prospect of food, Luffy notices a quiet roar in the background, dull and constant; the sound of rain hitting the deck, pounding into the ocean. There was a cyclone earlier. That's what the fuss was all about. He wonders how long he's been sleeping, anyway.

Nami pokes him in the side.

Luffy swallows back a moan of discomfort, reaching down to knock her hands away and circle his arms around his stomach.  He turns his face out of the pillow, eyes squeezed shut.

"Why don't I feel so great…"

"Probably a number of reasons. The huge hole in your stomach? The sedative, on top of all the seawater you swallowed, falling in like an idiot." Nami props a hand on her hip and rests the other gently on his back, rubbing between his shoulders. Her hand is warm on his cold skin, and Luffy sighs. "Want to come sit in here and eat? I'll warm the soup up free of charge, but it'll cost to bring it to you."

"Okay."

"Okay you're getting up, or okay I'm charging you?"

"Getting up."

"Okay." Nami laughs softly, withdraws her hand. She moves toward the door and looks meaningfully over her shoulder. "Don't step on anyone."

Chopper is asleep in his chair, but the others (except for Brook and Sanji) are all asleep in the galley. Robin is on the sofa, curled against the armrest. Usopp and Franky are on the mattress in the middle of the floor, and Zoro is snoring with his head resting on the table, his hand wrapped around the neck of a bottle between his knees. Nami cuts on one of the dimmer lights above the stove so she can see what she's doing without disturbing everyone, while Luffy climbs over his sleeping friends and then into the chair beside Zoro.

He puts his head down on the table, grinning. Zoro goes right on sleeping.

The smell of stew fills the galley once it starts warming up. Luffy's stomach grumbles as if it has a nose of its own and his mouth starts watering. He sits upright, scuffs his feet against the floor, and tries not to whine while he waits.  Nami pulls down the biggest bowl that they have and ladles it full, bringing it to the table.  Luffy doesn't realize how cold he is until the steam wafts up into his face and he picks the bowl up in both his hands.  He breathes in deep, puts his whole face in it just to enjoy the smell, and then he drains it in one big gulp that sends warmth gushing through him all the way to his toes.

He sets the bowl down empty, humming appreciatively, licking his lips. Nami gives him an unimpressed look, but she's smiling when she goes back to the stove and just brings the entire pot of stew to the table.

"I should have known better," she says, handing Luffy the ladle and taking the seat across from him.

He laughs, "Yeah," and dunks his bowl straight into the pot, scooping out the stew. Because he's shown miraculous restraint by not picking up the pot with his bare hands and scalding them (and howling and waking up the others) in the process, Nami doesn't smack him for it.  She rests her chin in her hand and lets him eat as much as he wants, until the stew pot is sitting empty in between them.

Luffy sits back in his chair and rubs his stomach, sighing contentedly.  It's good to be full, but getting stabbed in the belly always makes it kind of hurt.

"Do you want anything else?" Nami asks.

"Nah, I think I'm good," Luffy says, grinning. He definitely feels better than he did before. He starts poking at the bandages where his side is bulging just a little, turns and counts his friends again. "That stew was really good. Where's Sanji?"

"Watch duty with Brook."

"Oh okay."

Nami reaches across the table without any warning, snags Luffy's rubbery cheek between her fingers and gives him a firm pinch, yanking him forward. Luffy huffs, "Owowowow! Nami!  What gives!" and tries to keep his voice down, his hands against the table so she doesn't pull him over it. He wraps his leg around Zoro's to anchor himself.  Nami only bears down really hard one last time before she lets him go.

The recoil is enough to knock Luffy back into his seat, to jostle a louder, disgruntled snore out of Zoro.

Luffy grimaces, rubbing his cheek.

"What wuzzat for?"

"For being an idiot," Nami says, frowning, crossing her arms on the table, "and making us worry."

"Oh." Luffy relaxes, glad it isn't something serious, and grins. "Sorry."

"We're used to it." This gruff reply comes from Zoro, his face still squashed against the table, eyes still firmly shut. He shifts around to make his uncomfortable-looking position slightly more comfortable. "She's just giving you a hard time because she feels bad for not getting our asses outta there sooner."

Luffy chuckles gleefully, poking Zoro's face. Nami reaches beneath the table to wrench the liquor bottle out of Zoro's hand, "I think you've had enough," and jabs her heel into his boot.  Zoro ignores Nami, grunts at Luffy to knock it off, and the resulting commotion, however quiet they try to be, ends up rousing everyone else in the galley.

"Luffy, some of us are trying to sleep here," Usopp sighs, lifting his head to peer over Franky's hulking shoulder, "Come on, get down here and go back to bed - "

"Wait!  I want to check his bandages first!" Chopper says as he wobbles into the galley.  He's still rubbing the sleep from his eyes, looking at Luffy with concern. "Luffy, how are you feeling?"

"Okay," Luffy says.

He turns the chair around and lifts his arm out of the way so Chopper can check his pulse and prod his side with his hooves. It doesn't even hurt when he does it, just burns a little where the wound is deepest if he applies a lot of pressure. Luffy dutifully sits still, but sometimes his knee bounces. Chopper touches it lightly to make him stop.

"Any pain? And don't lie!"

"Mhh. A little."

"And you already ate?"

"Yup!"

"Good, then you can take this."  Chopper hands him a packet of medicine, and Luffy's face sinks into a pout. "And after that you should get some rest! I'll change your bandages after you've had a bath, first thing in the morning."

"Aw man, I gotta take a bath too?"

"If you don't like it you should stop getting stabbed, boss," Franky says, laughing sleepily.

One of Robin's hands pokes Luffy's arm insistently and offers him a glass of orange juice, and since there's no point in whining about it and he trusts Chopper to make him feel better (the same way he trusts Nami to get them to safety, and Zoro to pull him out of the water, and the others, always, with everything else), Luffy takes the medicine.

He chases the bitter taste out of his mouth. He puts a hand against his bandages. He climbs the crows nest in the pouring rain to show Brook that he's alright and to thank Sanji for the meal. He goes back to the galley, wraps up in a warm towel, and goes to sleep piled in the floor among his friends.

And he rests easier knowing they're all here, and they're safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is It! Thank you guys so much for sticking with me while I finished this! It's a pretty big accomplishment, considering I tend to drop expanded writing projects like hot potatoes...! Thank you for the suggestions and comments and kudos!! I really appreciate them all so much!!!!
> 
> To everyone that asked about adding one w Jinbei: I may do that later on just to have the 10 final strawhats all together, but it will probably be after the whole cake arc has concluded!
> 
> [my tumblr](http://bobtheacorn.tumblr.com) hmu!! ♡


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